The Hungarian Kitchen: Jókai bableves (Jokai bean soup)

Hi everyone! Long time, no recipes. I think it's been about four years since my last contribution to the Hungarian cooking series. In preparation for the upcoming snow, I thought it would be a good time to introduce a Hungarian classic called Jókai bableves. It is a hearty bean soup finished off with a paprika-and-onion roux, and it is named in honor of the Hungarian writer Jókai Mór, who was quite fond of bean soup.

(Jókai is pronounced something like "YO-kaw-ee." Probably something like "YO-kigh" with "kigh" rhyming with "high" would be the most natural English approximation. If you really want to know the Hungarian pronunciation, click on one of these here.)

First, the basic ingredients for part one:


2 pounds or so of smoked pork. Hocks and meaty ribs are typical. I used a a mix of about 1 1/2 lb smoked ribs from the Polish deli, and 1/2 pound of smoked pork shoulder from the same place.

1 pound of smoked sausage. A paprika-spiced sausage is preferred, but I just used a basic oak-smoked Polish sausage from the same deli. If you could get yourself some Debreceni/Debrecziners, that would be perfect.

1 pound dry beans. I used pinto here, but you could use all sorts of dried beans. In Hungarian recipes, tarkabab is usually called for, which translates into "multicolored/speckled" beans, of which pinto would be a variety. You can use canned beans, as well. That should equal about 3-4 of the 15.5 oz can of beans.

Then your usual Hungarian root veggies (thicknesses are approximate):

1/2 pound carrots, cut into 1/4" discs
1/2 pound parsnip or parsley root, cut into 1/4" discs, thick end the discs were cut in half (I used parsnip in this case)
1 small celery root, about 1/4-1/3 pound, in 1/2" dice

1 sweet pepper (I used gypsy pepper; Italian frying pepper works, too; cubanelle as well), diced
1 tomato (not pictured), diced
2 bay leaves (not pictured)



From top left: Start by making a smoked pork/ham stock. Add enough water to cover the smoked meats you are using, bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer, then simmer for about two hours, or until meat is soft. I used about six cups of water. You can also do this step in a pressure cooker, in which about 40 minutes on high pressure setting with natural release should be adequate time to extract the flavors into the water. Remove meat and bones when done.

Next, add your dried beans. (If using canned, rinse and drain them before adding them, and go to the next paragraph.) You can do this part however you want. Presoak the beans overnight; quick soak them for at least an hour using boiling water, or just add them in dry. Whatever bean cooking method you're most comfortable with. I personally quick-soak them in salted boiling water for an hour. (Put dried beans in pot with three times as much water as beans by volume. Add about two tablespoons of salt. Bring to boil. Cover. Turn off heat. Wait at least an hour.)

Also, add bay leaves, green pepper, tomato. Cook for at least an hour until beans are mostly softened. (If using canned beans, twenty minutes should be fine.)

Meanwhile, cut your smoked sausage into discs and strip as much meat from the smoked pork products you used to create your stock.

When beans are almost done, add your root vegetables. Offer a bone to your pit bull in reverent respect. Add your smoked meats and realize you need a bigger cooking vessel. Cover with additional water as needed (I needed an extra 2 cups, for a total of 8 cups for this recipe.) Cook until root vegetables are soft (somewhere around 20-30 minutes.)


On to our seasoned thickening, for this you will need:
3 tablespoons oil or lard (I used sunflower oil, my favorite for Hungarian dishes when not using lard.)
2 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons Hungarian paprika

Fry the onion in the oil until translucent. Add flour. Mix well. (Or you could do this in your normal roux order off flour and oil first, but that's just the way I learned it. You're not really cooking the roux to develop any color.)Add garlic and paprika. Take off heat. Mix well for about a minute to let the garlic and paprika dissolve in the oil/roux. Ladle off a cup or two of the soup, mix it well with the onion-paprika-roux mix, and pour the whole mixture back into the soup. Bring back to boil, then let simmer for about ten minutes. The soup should not get super thick. You're just adding a little bit of viscosity and body to it with the roux. This is just two tablespoons of flour thickening about 2 quarts of liquid, so you're looking for a light-to-moderate thickening.

After the ten minutes are up, add:

3/4 cup sour cream
1-3 Tablespoons vinegar

There should be a light tang to the soup, and I often myself add additional vinegar to it at the table.

Taste and adjust for seasonings. Depending on the saltiness of the smoked meats you were using, you may have to add a good bit of salt here. I added at least a tablespoon, as my meat was on the less-salted side. Also, crack in a good bit of black pepper.

(Edited to add: If anyone notices the two different colors of paprika there--it's because I used about 1 teaspoon and a half-ish of Spice House's Hungarian paprika, which is the more orange one, and a half teaspoon-ish of Spice House's California paprika, which is the more brick-red one.)


Optional: If you're up for it, you can also make these with csipetke, or pinched noodles. This is a straightforward pasta dough recipe. 100 g flour (about 1/2 cup), 1 large egg, a large pinch of salt. Mix them together until they come into a dough. It'll start off fairly shaggy and dry, but use your hands to knead it together until it reaches the consistency of Play-Doh. If it cracks and feels too dry, adjust by adding a teaspoon of water until you can get it into a relatively smooth ball (it doesn't have to be perfect.) I let the dough rest for about 30 minutes to completely hydrate, but many cooks don't even bother. All you do then is pinch them with your fingers into pea-sized balls or cylinders and either drop them directly into the soup (the usual) or cook them separately (which I do, as typically this dish lasts me a few days and it gets too gummy for me if I cook it in the soup.)



Serve with additional sour cream (if desired) and chopped parsley. I also like to add crushed red pepper flakes and a little bit more vinegar to this at the table.

Enjoy! Jó étvágyat!

Binko-

This is excellent. Love the photos. I could particularly relate to "and realize you need a bigger cooking vessel." I am a pro at that!

Binko,

If I only had a Polish deli nearby to grab some smoked sausages right now!

Do you think this would work well with leftover smoked BBQ? I have a feeling the smoke might be too intense.

I really look forward to making this. Your Chicken Paprikash is now a family favorite.

Thank you!

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:Binko,

If I only had a Polish deli nearby to grab some smoked sausages right now!

Do you think this would work well with leftover smoked BBQ? I have a feeling the smoke might be too intense.

I really look forward to making this. Your Chicken Paprikash is now a family favorite.

Thank you!

Regards,
Cathy2

As far as the sausages go, you can use whatever kind of smoked sausage you can find, even the Hillshire Farms stuff, if you want. Typically, though, we're looking for something with paprika like the Debreceni I mentioned, or a gyulai. Bende (of Vernon Hills) has branded gyulai sausages they sell locally. They actually had some at the Shop and Save I was at yesterday, but I ended up buying some of their housemade Polish sausages instead.

As for leftover smoked barbecue? Ya know, I really can't see why it wouldn't work. It's certainly something I would try, at least for the stock itself (if not for the meat). Basically, all you're doing here is making your standard bean soup on a smoked meat/ham-type broth, with a couple Hungarian twists in terms of the vegetables and the paprika-roux and sour cream. If your barbecue is smoked right, it shouldn't be that overwhelmingly smokey, anyway. The smoked meats and bones I used for the stock here had a healthy dose of clean smoke flavor to them.

Gotta tell you, that looks fantastic . . . and you could not have posted this at a better time given the weather forecast. Thanks!

You can get Hungarian sausage and other stuff at Bende's in Vernon Hills.

toria wrote:You can get Hungarian sausage and other stuff at Bende's in Vernon Hills.

Hey, I actually mention Bende of Vernon Hills! (it's in my second post)

The Shop & Save by my house stocks their Hungarian sausages and other smoked pork products, too. You can find their products in a number of supermarkets that cater to an Eastern European clientele.

1 pound of smoked sausage. A paprika-spiced sausage is preferred, but I just used a basic oak-smoked Polish sausage from the same deli. If you could get yourself some Debreceni/Debrecziners, that would be perfect.

Binko,

I bought my meats at Shop and Save near Midway Airport. I tried to inquire about this sausage, but didn't get very far. I saw a oak smoked sausage, which I hoped might be it or close to it. The label indicates it is a 'Kielbasa Debowa.'

Edit: Oak smoked baby back ribs are Polish for zeberka wedzone.

Tomorrow is the day!

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi Cathy!

Yes, that's the sausage I used and that's the Shop and Save I bought it from. If I had known you were going, I would have also recommended turning around and picking up Bende's Gyulai Kolbász which is vacuum-packed and located on the floor level fridges in the deli area where all the prepackaged cured and/or smoked meats are located. I bought kiełbasa debowa just because I've been trying to work my way through all the various Shop & Save sausages, and that's one I hadn't tried yet. It's a pretty basic, well-smoked sausage that tastes good for eating out of hand and in any smoked meat applications. My ideal meats for this dish would be a paprika-laden smoked sausage and a ham hock or two, depending on size -- I'd probably go more like 2 1/2-3 pounds if using ham hock.

Just remember to adjust for salt. I had to add a good bit at the end as my smoked meats were not particularly salty, but it varies depending on what you buy and where you buy it from. This is a very flexible, homey dish. I hope you enjoy it!

Binko wrote:I bought kiełbasa debowa just because I've been trying to work my way through all the various Shop & Save sausages, and that's one I hadn't tried yet.

If you are taking notes on these various sausages, I would consider it a public service if you offered your thoughts. All those sausages hanging back there deserve the treatment you are offering.

I described to the guy behind the counter what I was looking for. I got the impression I needed to know what I needed, because he did not.

I am making my first batch of your soup today. I have been looking forward to doing this since I read your recipe.

Thank you!

Regards,
Cathy2

Hi,

We very much enjoyed your Jokai bean soup for lunch today. While eating, my Mom's brother called, "Cathy made Anna Klink's Hungarian soup today!" This woman my Mom knew during the 1950's. We guess she dined on a similar soup when visiting this family.

I reminded my family you are the source of the Chicken Paprikash we now enjoy several times a year. My Dad expressed interest in having this soup again, too, which is a high compliment.

While my Mom may think of Anna Klink, I remember Binko and offer my thanks.

Regards,
Cathy2

You're very welcome. Thank you for trying it out and enjoying it! Glad to hear that these recipes get some use out of them. It's this type of weather that brings out all the Hungarian cooking over here at Chez Binko. I'm hankering for some goulash soup, so that's going to be on the menu for Friday. That and the chicken paprikash are my fall/winter standbys.